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Shooting
aim for $18
A laser training cartridge is a tool that makes a real firearm inert while it's installed. When the trigger is depressed, it briefly fires a laser at your target. In my book, it's an absolute must, and it's the best thing you can do for your training.
This brand is the most reliable for its price bracket, but you can find them on ebay for under $20. They're dimmer, but they still work fine. I've written more about laser training cartridges.
These are useful not only for dry practice at home, but also for live fire. You can put one or multiple in every magazine you shoot to keep your malfunction clearance skills up, but more importantly it informs you whether you're flinching or disrupting the sights as you fire. On every trigger pull, you can tell yourself "this is the snap cap." This works wonders for preventing recoil anticipation, jerking and flinching. You can get snap caps made entirely of plastic, or you can get them with a realistic look and feel for about a dollar or two apiece. If you choose realistic snap caps, get ones that have brightly colored "bullets" so they're easier to find on the ground at the range and more importantly because it's safer to get snap caps that don't look like real ammunition so you're never sitting in your home with inert ammo that looks like real ammo. These are a part of my tips on how to Save money at the range.
laser trainer and trigger reset for AR
It's essential to make dry practice fun. This turns drills into games and gives you feedback on where your shots are hitting. Only get the green laser if you plan to drill outside in the sun. Get the red laser to save money or use it with certain camera and software tools.
Howard Leight Impact Sports for $55.07 (sometimes around $45)
Electronic hearing protection should be worn in conjunction with in-ear protection (foamies or baffles) because none of them provide enough protection on their own. There are three levels of electronic muffs - cheap (under $30), more expensive but still just as cheap ($45), and professional-grade ($250).
No matter how good the muffs, 26 dB NRR is not enough, and most people won't get the full 26 dB because muffs aren't supposed to be worn against hats, glasses or long hair. Is our hearing protection working?
This is why some choose to get the cheapest ones they can, get extras for new shooters, and double up on ear pro.
Check out these budget options for interfacing comms and ear pro.
in-ear protection
Baffled in-ear pro is great if you like to or need to remove your ear pro repeatedly or if you need it to start working immediately. They stay cleaner and are cleanable.
While these aren't as good as the $3 apiece 3M baffles, they're 17 cents each. I bag them up in 10s or 20s, stash them everywhere, and hand them out to my friends. Please wear double hearing protection. You can read more about it here. Is our hearing protection working?
in-ear protection
These have a very high NRR rating and are very comfortable. This color is nice if you like to wear hearing protection where others would think it's weird.
Foamies are great if you have to leave them in for extended periods of time. They're more effective and more comfortable, but removing and re-inserting them with dirty hands can cause an infection. Please learn about hearing protection, especially if you've never seen a tutorial on how to insert foamies.
targets
This is a lifetime supply of 36-cent-apiece ($1 apiece at Walmart) shoot and see targets if you follow my tips on how to save money at the range. The tip about targets is to put hundreds of rounds through one target because you don't need to see the shots that hit the ragged hole in the middle. You only need to see the ones that don't.
lead wipes
Children absorb lead four to five times more readily than adults, and it's cumulative. If you know children, people who may become pregnant, or even people who may make someone pregnant, you should be very careful not to expose them to lead. This is why food and drink is banned from shooting ranges and why you're not allowed to drag your unspent cartridge or inert cartridge back from beyond the shooting line. Please learn about the dangers of lead, why many shooters' blood lead levels are elevated, and How Lead Changed the Personality of a Generation. Turns out much of what we think of as "aging" might actually just be the effects of lead poisoning from childhood.
Lights
Rifle WML
What sets this light apart and makes it interesting is that it has zero spill. It has an adjustable beam, so it can be set so that all of the light is in the hotspot. There are two advantages to this - no wasted light, and less blinding reflection off of smoke, fog and dust.
I purchased this light for $50 in 2023 to use it for my airsoft replica for training. I liked it so much I decided to get it for my rifle, and the price had dropped to $30.
People with $300 rifle light setups are sometimes stopped in their tracks when they see it before they even hear the pricetag. I've also put this light through a lot more than many people with $300 WMLs including dynamic drills and hours of rain.
Skip this light if you're going for gear prestige or if you might drop your rifle 3 stories onto rocks and have it tumble into crashing waves. That might break it, and then I'd have to duct-tape my Sofirn to it, which, would work, actually. So I guess I could only do that twice per mission before I no longer had a white light.
The EDC light that meets all my criteria
The Sofirn SP31V2.0 has been on my person every day since 2019. I wear it horizontally at around 11:00 on a DIY kydex clip attached to my belt.
I'm selective about my flashlights. My criteria are brightness, dimness, button function, and price. This one has it all. There are 5 brightness settings controlled by the side button that can be reached easily with a medium or large hand, and they range from 1200 to 5 lumens, which is great.
On a defensive flashlight, you need a tail light that can go directly to its brightest setting with two options: "click ON" and "momentary ON." This has that. The brightness level is set by memory of the last setting when the light was last turned off.
I like a flashlight that I can afford to lose. At the time of this posting (01-2023), the price is $29.59.
The tiniest EDC light
The Lumintop Tool AA 2.0 is a 650-lumen light if you use the 14500 battery (3.7 volts, so three times the output of a AA). It can also take a AA, but with reduced lumens. For its price and size, it is an incredibly bright light. Brightness is one thing, but buttons and dimness are also important. It has a tail switch with okay function (no momentary ON), and its dimmest setting is 16 lumens, which is pretty good. The light has good spread, but not a lot of throw. I get this flashlight for people who wouldn't carry an 18650 light, and mine goes everywhere with me in my backpack. This listing is a little unclear about it, but it should come with a battery that has a micro-USB port for charging.
The price at the time of this listing (Jan 2023) is $28.95 less a $2 coupon.
headlamp
There is an incredible selection of affordable headlamps. If your criteria are similar to mine, this is a good option. It must be rechargeable, must have a green light (bugs are less attracted to green), must have variable white light throw, and as with everything, it has to be an outlier in the market for its price vs. value.
This headlamp also has a whistle inside the triglide slider and a small removable molle-capable red light that I find very useful. This is in addition to the red light mode.
Let's normalize wearing headlamps, but keep them off if you're around people.
aim for $25
search light
This is the golden age of flashlights. A light like this isn't necessary for everyone, but it sure is fun. Some have side lights or can charge your phone.
The handgun WML
This is the best of the only two weapon-mounted lights I would recommend for handguns. It punches far outside of its price class, and it's durable and bright enough to be considered "duty-grade."
Don't buy from Amazon because the fakes are common and hard to spot. Don't buy from Optics Planet because they're generally shady.
DO NOT CONFUSE THIS WITH THE TLR-1. The TLR-1 HL is much brighter, so if you see it for under $130, check again to make sure it's got the HL. You can get a kit to mount these to a rifle, but it's not the top choice for rifles because a rifle WML should have a lot more "throw" (for distance) and can be even brighter.
The handgun WML runner up
This is the second best of the only two weapon-mounted lights I would recommend for handguns. It's the light you may need to choose if the TLR-1HL doesn't fit on your gun.
I see a lot of gun people choosing this light because they like the aesthetic of a WML that matches the length of the muzzle of the gun. Please seek professional help.
The following is a real converation that happened:
Gunslinger: "I can't see the targets with my light. How is you light so bright?"
Me: "It's a TLR-1 HL."
Gunslinger: "Oh, mine's a TLR-7."
WML batteries
It's a good idea to use a good brand of CR123A batteries and to never mix and match batteries of different ages and remaining power. In theory that can cause fires, although I'm not sure if that's ever happened with Streamlight lights.
Radio
Nobody regrets a UV-5R.
Have you asked yourself "Which radio should I get?" The short answer is two Baofeng UV-5R kits. Nobody regrets owning a UV-5R, and the kit gives you workable accessories that you may end up having to buy later on.
The model linked is the newer 8-watt version of the UV-5R, which can give you a little more transmitting distance.
A nice upgrade the extended 3800 mAh battery as opposed to the smaller 1800. Having one of each gives you some good options (portable vs. long-lasting), and the extended battery allows you to charge it via USB if you buy an extra $7 cable. That's a very nice feature.
A great new feature in affordable handheld radios (HTs) is frequency copying, which sets you up with your friends at the touch of a button. There are more and more radios with this feature including the UV-K5 Plus, UV-5RM, AR-5RM, and the UV-17R.
range extending accessory
This SMA feed line extension allows you to raise your antenna for a better signal. People often think they need a bigger or better antenna. That's almost never the case. Getting above the obstructions will work better than any antenna upgrade.
Check out the section about antennas in Which radio should I get?
RG-174 is lighter and cheaper, but it's delicate. RG-58 is more durable and may produce better results, especially at longer lengths.
Sustainment and preparedness
I used this model at least 200 times over the course of about a decade before it gave out on me. I jumped cars, filled tires, filled my air mattress, but never did vacuum anything with it. I bought another brand to replace it, and it basically never worked, so I bought another one of these.
Pictured: Schumacher Electric SJ1332
aim for $10 apiece
defensive chemicals
The list of viable options for defensive spray is very short. There are maybe two that are viable for EDC. Sabre Red and the POM product that paid promoters keep promoting. Avoid defense sprays that don't have a flip top lid because it's such an intuitive and secure feature.
Get gel if you plan to use it indoors or wherever there may be wind (so that's everywhere). It also shoots farther and stays on an attacker longer.
Get spray if you want it to work a little faster, in theory.
Defense sprays are a much better option for a long list of situations. The problem is that they don't work on everyone in every circumstance. Neither does a gun. Carry both.
Fun date night tip: get an inert version that sprays water.
gear organizer
This is a gear organizer that I carry in my backpack and hang on a wall. This is the 10.5" x 7.5", which I think is great for a backpack. Bigger would be great, too, though. I fill mine with easily twice as much stuff as the product pictures show, and everything is secure and still easily accessible.
aim for $25
water filter (for home or outdoors)
This cleanable water filter works for home filtration or backpacking. It screws onto a soda bottle that you fill with dirty water. I used a 2-liter with the bottom cut off, and turned it upside-down and dropped the filter right into wide-mouth gallon juice bottle. Then I poured my tap water in the 2-liter to let it drip through the filter. I did this daily for two years, and it made my water safer and better tasting.
aim for $9
OSINT manual
Buy it used in the worst condition you can for under $10. This is a must have to keep your information safe online and to learn to do deeper searches of publicly available information.
winter traction
I've lived in snowy, mountainous areas for years, and tire socks are a necessary tool. There's a machismo that creates a stigma around them. There's something "cool" about chains and studs. There's nothing cool about a car wearing socks, so people who know nothing about them "know" they don't work.
They work wonders. They're like chains, but can't damage your car and are faster and easier to put on and take off (2 mins, and 30 seconds, respectively). Chains work better on pure ice, maybe even much better on pure ice, but they can take a very long time to put on.
I've used the ISSE and the AutoSock brands. The ISSE are looser and easier to install. That means they'll fit more sizes of tires, but it also means they can gather snow more and may need re-adjustment, but it's rare enough that they'll last most uses without the need to adjust. I'd say it's the ISSE are worth the price savings, ease of donning and doffing, and one-size-fits-all benefit so you can use it on other vehicles.
aim for $18
tick repellent
You can treat your clothes with tick repellent. Lyme Disease and about a dozen other tick-borne illnesses can affect your quality of life forever.
One bottle treats a top and bottom and lasts for a month or two.